The Courtship of Domitan of Masbolle
by CalliopeMused
Summary: Neal, Yuki, Raoul, and Buri's double wedding is be the perfect time for Domitan to ask Keladry about something more serious than a dance. At least, it will be if Dom could talk to Kel for sixty seconds at a time.
1. Chapter 1

_For once, I finished a story before posting it. This story will have four chapters, and I'll probably post one every few days. I don't own these characters or the setting, or even the events that prompted this story. _

_This story begins just a few hours after _Lady Knight _ended. _

**The Courtship of Domitan of Masbolle: Chapter One **

The day started out with an immense amount of promise, which should have been Sergeant Domitan of Masbolle's first clue.

Sir Meathead was marrying the woman insane enough to find his insipid poetry wonderful, and who also thought it was adorable that Nealan buried his vast soft streak beneath a vaster amount of sarcasm and cynicism. Yuki would make a very acceptable cousin, and when he had made the pronouncement at dinner the night before his cousin's very pretty bride had kissed him on the cheek for his troubles. Buri hadn't been so affectionate when he'd proclaimed her a suitable boss-lady for the Own, but she had laughed at his spirited toast. Dom was technically Neal's best man, but he had given a toast for Raoul just to be polite. It wasn't just any day that Lord Sir Raoul of Goldenlake and Malorie's Peak, infamous bachelor and the breaker of matchmaker hearts, decided to marry Queen Thayet's best friend.

The queen had taken the boat up with Yuki and Buri for the wedding, and she was (rather naturally) serving as the matron of honor for Buri's bridal party. In a brilliant display of tweaking conservative noses entirely out of joint, Sir Alanna of Pirate's Swoop would be Raoul's best man. Dom's favorite detail, however, was that Kel was the undisputed maid of honor for Neal and Yuki, meaning that Dom would get to escort her down the aisle, dance with her at the reception, and make endless flirtations about Kel cleaning up well. Kel was the rare woman that looked remarkable coated in mud, but he didn't mind the see the chance at seeing her in a dress that emphasized certain parts of her that armor never would.

The dress would be something, not that he'd pay all that much attention to it. He didn't have to. Lalasa had also been on the boat for the occasion, as the best dressmaker in Corus would be dressing the queen, the Champion, two brides, and Lady Knight Keladry of Mindelan- a resume that most seamstresses would never fill in a lifetime, let alone all in one day. Lalasa could make Meathead look good in a dress if she so chose, so there was no question that Kel was going to be stunning.

Wolset could shove it. The corporal's categorization of Dom's "painfully obvious" crush was obviously an exaggeration, if Kel hadn't remarked on it. There was the off chance that Kel had noticed, and had decided to hold her tongue to spare Dom's delicate male ego, but he knew her. She would have sat him down at some point and been so nice about letting him down that it would be like falling into a pit of feathers. It would still be embarrassing and awkward, and he'd probably draw funny looks from the metaphorical feathers stuck about his person for days to come, but she would have been so diplomatic and practical and _Kel _in ending his long-standing crush that he might have even gotten over her without too many long-lasting emotional scars.

It was rather late for that, now, because he had gotten to the point where she could completely unhinge his time-honored strategy of "when in doubt, flirt." He used it a mite too often, perhaps, but once he had developed the reputation for flirting everybody started expecting it, and he couldn't just use it only on Kel. He might as well carry about a placard stating that he was absolutely mad for Mindelan, and would the world please take pity on his ability to concentrate. He still flirted, but by now if he _did_ try to be aloof and mysterious ladies might think they simply weren't attractive enough to flirt with, and some of the girls he'd been roped into dancing with had been teenagers at their debut, and self-confidence was a very hard thing to develop if the rather infamously flirtatious sergeant remained entirely polite without providing at least one approving and mildly scandalous quip for her to repeat to her friends later.

It was his own fault, just as it was his own fault that he'd been standing quite casually near the entrance of the fort for the last half an hour. He was a hopeless case, but he was the hopeless case that was going to grab Kel as soon as she wrangled Nealan into an appearance. Raoul (a pox on his name) had actually found work for Dom to do that didn't involve spending weeks of his time at New Hope. He had seen the fort only twice, and for one of those visits he had been a courier. He had been carrying a message directly to Keladry, but he still had been under strict orders to receive her reply and ride away promptly.

He had also been letting his thoughts wander with entirely too little supervision, because somehow Wolset had shown up just a few minutes before and had yet to think of leaving. Wolset was making an art of insolently leaning his weight to one side, then the other. Rude man, Dom couldn't imagine why he had ever let that battlefield promotion hold- except that Kel had straightened up Dom's most irritating soldier inside half an hour, and the changes that she had made had stuck rather firmly.

Wolset finally made a different kind of shift, after quite a bit of waiting, and that was the one that meant that Dom was (again) going to deal with taunts and sly innuendo about 1. his inability to form particular sentences with Kel in sight, 2. whether or not he would ever make an attempt to kiss the fair lady, or 3. why it was rather pathetic to see the dashing Sergeant Dom utterly unable to charm a girl after a great deal of previous attempts, which were still acted out by his devoted, loyal squad whenever they had the slightest sip of spirits or when they simply felt he could use the reminder. If it wasn't any of those, Wolset would be complaining about the money that he could be making from the squad's betting pool if Dom would only make his move.

Dom might have tuned the words out entirely, but Wolset's expression was oddly sympathetic.

"You should tell her," Wolset said. There was no hint of teasing in those words, and the man's dark eyes were rather intense. Usually he was only interested in battles, alcohol, and embarrassing Domitan, but the words were quiet enough for not even the guard up on the wall to hear.

Dom said nothing, preferring to let silence goad Wolset into elaborating.

"You've already covered the nice gestures, Dom, and nobody can doubt that you're good for her. You've been taking up for her side just as long as my lord, and he's the only one to rival Kel for taking up strays." Wolset turned toward the road when Dom only glared. "It's a good omen, people getting married all over the place, and it _can't _go all that terribly. You know her. She'd never embarrass you over something like this if we're all wrong."

"I..." Dom didn't know how to explain, but he was in that unenviable position that he had always been so quick to ridicule. How could you be so happy with what you had that you were unwilling to push for what you really wanted? It was rather easy to start sympathizing with that indecision when you were close friends with someone like Kel. She cared about everybody and everything, from one-legged sparrows to entire camps of refugees to a single unjust law, and it was rather overwhelming to hope that some portion of that great compassion could settle on you with a rather more personal kind of attention.

Wolset was about to prompt him into actually speaking words, but that was when the wall-guard trumpeted a welcoming.

Normally it wasn't done to have trumpets announcing every single little detail of fort life, especially as some of the wall-guards couldn't carry a tune in a bucket glued to their hand, but today there was a double-wedding. The trumpet notes were followed by a shout- announcing the imminent arrival of the New Hope delegation, which would include his cousin and the lady knight herself.

She had a wonderful habit of saving people, and sometimes it even included Dom. Wolset was good, but Dom didn't outrank him solely for reasons of ego. "Grab Kel's horse, would you?" He had warned his men to knock it off about Keladry of Mindelan. "I need to talk to Kel for a minute, Lord Raoul's orders, and I'm sure Peachblossom knows you better than the ostlers here."

That was just mean, really, but there was no call for Wolset putting him even more on edge when he could see the horses in the distance. Peachblossom wasn't there, more's the pity, but Wolset could still be kind and take Hoshi's reins. Dom actually did have orders from Raoul, though he strongly expected they had been given only because recently engaged men had the most obnoxious tendency to start marrying off everyone they knew. It had driven Raoul up the wall just a few years before, and then Kel had talked Raoul into taking Buri along to some Midwinter party or other, and suddenly his boss went to the occasional party voluntarily to 'keep Buri company,' as 'he owes her a favor.' Raoul had even pointed a sweet young lady right toward Lerant in a blatant (and rather effective) display of matchmaking.

The chaos of people arriving and hostlers running to whisk the horses out of site and men sprinting to spirit the guests to their appropriate places all faded into watching Kel ride in. He realized that it was probably a terrible sign that the entire world could narrow to just her, especially given the prospect that he might need to back away someday soon and smile when she introduced some lucky man as her fiance, but it did make the greetings the slightest bit easier. Kel and Hoshi picked through the milling crowd with ease, and Kel dismounted with effortless grace and a smile.

He was sunk, completely sunk, but he couldn't bring himself to care.

"Lady knight!"

She had already opened her arms, so he very happily followed his greeting declaration with a strong hug. Gods he had missed being around a woman he didn't need to worry about breaking.

"Dom, hello." She jerked her head behind her, unerringly pinpointing Sir Meathead. Granted, it probably wasn't all that hard, as Dom could practically hear the poor sucker's heartbeat from fifteen paces, but he was impressed nonetheless. She had known his cousin for ages, to be able to do that, and yet Nealan was still alive. Truly Kel had the patience of a martyr. "I've been trying to talk him down for the entire ride up here. I'll be glad to hand him off to you when it's time to get him all dressed up and ready to go."

Dom winced playfully. "Don't remind me, they say that _brides _are supposed to be the neurotic ones- I've always had more issues with the grooms. Speaking of, His Lordship wants me to steal you for a report, and by report, he really means that I'm the middleman. He has a present he wants to pass to Buri, and wanted to be sure I went over the accompanying note with you."

Kel seemed a little reluctant as she stepped away from him, but his overeager imagination could easily have added in a motive. It was hard for any of them to move anywhere, let alone to create more space. "You'll have Alanna to help you, at least- I can't believe he made her best man!"

Somehow, for all his nervousness at the thought of talking to her, it was as easy as breathing to fall into their usual banter. "It was her or Sir Gary, and once Gary knew the options he found reasons to be in Corus. His wife came up to feed him the details later, but he's sitting in Corus watching the conservative reaction to all of this."

Keladry chuckled. "I can imagine- I'll be up there with the queen, so we're in good company for the madness. Nealan had something for Yuki, too. He gave it to me days ago to be sure he wouldn't misplace it, and asked about it at least a dozen times on the way here."

Dom was going to suggest getting away from the crowd so they could hear themselves think, and was going to prolong the conversation for as long as he possibly could, but that was when Lalasa came running into the crowd. Normally he liked the girl quite a bit, but he found the interruption less than pleasing.

"Lady Kel, we have problems," Lalasa said calmly, for all that she must have run from the central building of the fort. The dressmaker was as fit as any of Dom's men, and rumor had it that she taught fighting more frequently than his entire squad put together. "Yuki and Buri both desire your immediate presence for reasons that I am not allowed to repeat, lest their reputations suffer."

Kel looked at him, but she needn't have asked. He rarely had an overinflated opinion of himself, and he would never step between Lady Knight Keladry and her duty. "Here. I trust completely in your ability to read the attached note and present this to Buri with all due ceremony." He pressed the oblong white box into her hand.

He was sunk. The banter flowed like alcohol at the first annual Queen's Riders-King's Own Midwinter Party, but just touching her hand and feeling the calluses made his mind stutter to a brief halt.

"Duty calls." The words had a humorous lilt that only seemed to come out with her closest friends, and he was the sole focus of warm hazel eyes and the recipient of a crooked smile. Perhaps he would regain mental function in time to walk Kel down the aisle, or maybe that would break his head permanently for all of the possibilities of such a thing.

Wolset had vanished, Lalasa was politely waiting to take Kel off for some mission that no one else could accomplish, and he had already lost the excuse that Lord Raoul had given him so handily. It was lucky that there was only one possible response in his full repertoire.

"It always does, Protector of the Small," he said grandly, ducking the half-hearted swat she aimed at his shoulder. No matter how many times someone said it, that title would always goad her into a reaction.

This time, her reaction past the swat was an even more pronounced crookedness to her smile. "You are incorrigible, and I will break you of that habit someday if I have to train you in tilting. Good luck with Raoul and Nealan."

She and Lalasa vanished into the lessening crowd, and it would forever amaze him how a woman so tall could move with such grace.

If he even thought about writing sonnets, he was going to throw himself on Raoul's mercy and ask for more work to do. Until then, he would amuse himself by keeping Sir Meathead in check until the wedding. His cousin wouldn't appreciate any banter appropriate for the occasion, but he did take direction readily enough.

He hadn't had much time with Kel at all, but he was still soppy enough that the half a minute made him want to start smiling goofily enough that he would resemble Raoul in a moment of not-panicking.

Domitan of Masbolle was in trouble, but he somehow couldn't bring himself to care. It was going to be a wonderful day.


	2. Chapter 2

_I'm still working out the ending for the final and final chapter, but I expect the story will be online very quickly. There will be quite a few cameos, and some canon events mentioned that were clarified in interviews with Tamora Pierce instead of the books themselves.  
><em>

**The Courtship of Domitan of Masbolle  
>Chapter Two<strong>

Domitan had seen his cousin in a great deal of psychological states in the many, many years they had antagonized each other at family gatherings and in mutual visits to the palace. He had authored a list of tactics (to be used in an escalating fashion) that had never failed to provoke a reaction from Nealan. Furthermore, those reactions were generally predictable, and when his cousin had left healing behind and decided to join the faction of the family that preferred to solve problems with swordwork, it had become even easier to tease him into spectacular reactions. Then Nealan had started mentioning a new friend in his letters, and it had taken two months for Dom to realize that his meatheaded cousin had actually befriended the tall lady page with the tetchy pony. For the longest time, he had simply thought that 'Kel' was the child of parents with strange taste in names and heritable talents for soothing irritable amateur philosophers.

This was getting ridiculous. Dom was waiting with Lord Raoul, and his cousin had yet to appear. Nealan had been put into the care of one of the men-at-arms over Dom's strong protests. Raoul might have proved a challenge, but he was taking the entire matter rather philosophically. Dom had hedged about prying, but his boss had explained without any real prompting. "Buri and I have a history, and quite a bit of that history is mistakes I made. If she doesn't want to get married, then we won't."

"That's a bit Yamani, sir. I think it suits the occasion very well."

Raoul (who had already managed to dress himself with no great incident) chuckled. "Alanna threatened to magic me if I wasn't properly settled, and I think she meant it. You already handed the necklace off to Kel, then?"

"I didn't have the chance to go over the note with her, but you've always trusted her initiative before. Lalasa came to fetch her away before we could say much at all."

"You'll have her to yourself later, at least," Raoul said. "Speaking of Keladry—"

Dom felt deceived. Grooms-to-be were meant to be neurotic creatures entirely incapable of going on the verbal attack, and here was Raoul with his clothes on in the proper order ready to start sticking his nose into rather personal business. For the second time that day, however, Dom was saved by a timely arrival. He had never been all that fond of Wyldon before (even if the man had finally come around on Kel), but there were first times for everything.

Wyldon had pushed the door open just a moment after three strong raps. Normally it was a bit rude to go opening doors with no response, but it all made sense when the door had opened. Wyldon had a firm grip on Meathead's shoulder, and pushed the young knight into the room without delay. "Masbolle, may I trust this young flutterhead to your care? Mithros only knows what he was doing, but we was wandering in the stables and nearly in range of the stallions."

"I'll take him, sir." Dom matched words to actions by pushing his charming cousin into a chair very firmly. If Nealan didn't want to stay seated, Dom might just tie him there until it was time to break out the fancy clothes.

He had seen Meathead doing truly stupid things, but wandering around near horses on the day of the wedding seemed to be a bit much.

Wyldon looked over Nealan thoughtfully, taking in the rather glassy eyes and the uneven laces of his tunic. "Should your efforts prove insufficient—and this is no slight to you, Masbolle, Queenscove is rather excitable—I recommend Mindelan. She has long practice in wrangling him into some kind of order, and I know the pages used to present themselves to her before formal gatherings."

"I thought you liked her, sir," Dom said, forgetting for a moment that Wyldon wasn't so fond of cheerful insolence if Nealan's letters to be believed. "I wouldn't inflict my cousin on a Scanran right now."

Wyldon nodded thoughtfully, not looking the least perturbed. "You make an excellent point, but I would hate to deprive her of further blackmail material or whatever it is she uses to command Queenscove effectively."

Dom was left halfway to gaping, and almost unconsciously nudged Neal's shoulder. His cousin had missed it, of course, but that was the Meathead's loss. The Stump had a sense of humor, and Dom had proof.

"Thank you for finding him, Wyldon." Raoul continued to look entirely too calm for any of this. "I'll fetch Kel if there's a need."

Wyldon glanced at Dom, leaving the distinct impression that life would be better if Dom would remove himself from the immediate surroundings, but didn't say anything of the sort when he looked back to Raoul. "My sincere congratulations on the wedding, Raoul. I would give the same to Queenscove, but I doubt he would remember any of it. For today, I will be satisfied with giving my regards to his lady."

Dom didn't understand the man that had been Kel and Nealan's training master one bit, but he just might like Wyldon a little better after that display. A sense of humor was a curiosity, but this was something else. For reasons beyond his comprehension, Wyldon and Keladry had kept up something very much like a friendship after Wyldon assigned the "punishment" work of building New Hope. Dom left that friendship as one of many things beyond the comprehension of mortals not present at the right time in the correct location, and had decided Wyldon wasn't an entirely bad sort.

He nearly changed his mind later, and might have been quite peeved with Wyldon for finding Nealan at all if he didn't have Raoul to help him. There wasn't any time for Raoul to make leading statements about Keladry when it took two fully-grown men to guide Nealan through the fine art of putting on his clothes the correct way. Neal was an absolute wreck, but it was finally over. Dom had two fully-dressed bridegrooms by the time that there was a second person knocking on the door.

Alanna also let herself in, but she was polite enough to wait a few moments after knocking. "Raoul, I bear tidings from your wife-to-be. The necklace was very well-received, and good on you for finding a glassworker that knew his K'mir color schemes. Buri still wants to know why in the four Horse Lords the pair of you didn't elope like normal people."

"I've been asking myself the same question."

Dom kept to the side while the pair of them hugged (resulting in the King's Champion nearly disappearing, as both of Raoul's arms together were about the size of her waist), and didn't take his hand off of Nealan's shoulder. It was far easier to just keep the poor man shoved down into the chair and answer any particularly coherent questions that came up.

Alanna turned on her squire next, and pulled him out of the chair to hug him. "Nealan. Relax or I'll decide you need a little sword practice to calm you down, and you'll sweat all over your nice clothes—Yuki loved the hair-sticks. There had just been a rather loud debate about what we were doing with her hair, and I think Kel was about ready to suggest hacking it all off."

"No, I like her hair."

Dom pushed his cousin back into the chair when the daft man looked ready to run away in protection of Yuki's hair. "Well done, your ladyship, you've gotten a rare full sentence out of him. It even was in response to something that you said. I've had him recite the vows a few times, to be sure, but that's about all we can get out of him."

"Yuki's nearly as nervous, the poor dove. She's never seen a Tortallan wedding before, and the dress rehearsal was a little difficult with a groom and a maid of honor absent." Alanna rested a gentle hand on Neal's cheek. "Silly squire of mine. I should have brought George along just to keep him calm."

Dom had checked over all the little details of fancy clothing already, but it didn't hurt to look again. He was hardly used to so many layers of fine fabric anymore, and Nealan wasn't going to help anytime soon. "I'm hoping that he'll have done so much fussing in advance that he'll be fine by the time we get him up to the front of the hall."

Alanna straightened the skirts of a very beautiful lilac-colored dress. Dom was no expert in women's clothing, but he had escorted enough women with red hair to know that the issue of colors became rather sensitive. One girl had even outright said that she envied the Lioness's ability to wear purple. He thought that was an odd trait to pick, given that the Lioness was also the best swordsman (or swordswoman) in the country and a powerful mage besides, but fine society resulted in rather strange people. He also could notice that if Lalasa found a nice purple for Alanna, she would have found something stunning for Kel.

Alanna finished surveying Raoul and Nealan with an approving nod. "Excellent work, Domitan. I was roped into helping with the brides' end of things, but you have produced two gentlemen with their underthings on the proper side of their trousers."

"I'm hardly that bad," Raoul protested, not sounding the least bit put out. "Queenscove seems to be handling the wedding jitters for both of us. I also happen to remember a certain Lioness that had been teasing some poor groom for years on end, something about long-term distractions and no necessity for marriage..."

That day, Dom saw something entirely novel. Sir Alanna of Pirate's Swoop, King's Champion, was capable of blushing. "Quiet, you," Alanna chided, with just as much dignity as a warrior could muster when outflanked and unarmed. "It's time for the ceremony, and I need to be drunk before you start telling all and sundry about the more interesting parts of my past."

Raoul chuckled. "That can be arranged. I'd stay away from the punch, if I were you."

"What do you mean?" Alanna asked.

Dom coughed discreetly as he pulled Nealan to his feet, keeping a very firm grip on his cousin's elbow. "The Own would feel as if they had been derelict in their duty if they didn't liberally spike the punch at milord's reception—but he's marrying Buri. The Riders are also going to insist on spiking the punch in her honor. Yuki's friends are all rather charming, but Sir Meathead here has a few acquaintances that would feel as if it's a matter of _their _honor to add in some alcohol."

"Thank you, sergeant, excellently phrased." Raoul offered his arm to Alanna. "This is probably all out of sorts, since you're my best man, but you still owe me for not saying a word before your Ordeal."

Alanna rolled her eyes, but Dom thought that the push against Raoul's arm was rather fond. It would almost have to be, given the rather obvious size difference. "Eventually I'm going to collect enough blackmail for you to let that one go."

Two of Tortall's most respected and most deadly warriors were bickering like pages. Domitan took this as a sign that all was well in the world, and threw an arm over Nealan's shoulders. He spent most of the walk toward the chapel listening to Alanna and Raoul tease each other, trying to see if he could gather any particularly interesting past mishaps on Raoul's part, but near the end his cousin finally roused himself.

"Dom, aren't we heading over a little early?" Nealan asked, precisely as if he hadn't spent a large chunk of the afternoon in a mental state that vegetables wouldn't envy.

"It's showtime, Neal, or you'll miss your own wedding." Dom tightened his grip on his cousin's shoulders. It was an acceptable gesture of rough affection between two friends, and it also prevented the idiot from veering off in some undesired direction. "Kel has the present that you wanted to give to Yuki, and it was a brilliant idea. Kel's in charge of making sure that Yuki and Buri show up suitably dressed and on time, and you know your lady. Yuki's sweet as pie, and there is no way she'd get herself up here in the cold surrounded by soldiers and mud and then decide she'd rather jilt you."

"That's... not very comforting, actually. Aren't you _not _supposed to be talking about jilting right now?"

"You'd just start thinking about it anyway, and Goddess help me if you start making a list I am going to coax Lady Alanna into witching sense into you until you to say your vows. Maybe she could even get it to stick permanently." Now that Dom thought about it, perhaps he should have been paying more attention to Alanna's past misdeeds. They might have been useful.

Nealan took a deep breath. When he exhaled, his spine straightened, and for the first time in hours his eyes were clear. "Lists are superfluous things when it comes to wedding—except when it comes to negotiating bridal parties. Sir Raoul wanted Kel, too, but he and Buri settled for the queen. Our Keladry's quite popular, you know."

"Yes, I do. I scarcely said hello to her today before Lalasa came to steal her away."

Nealan's slanted glance was a vast change from earlier, and was probably an improvement, but sneaky-Neal had never worked out all that well for Domitan. "You'll have the first dance with Kel later."

"Well, yes. That's what happens when she's the other attendant for the same couple."

His cousin was going to say something, and Domitan was wracking his brain for ways to shut him up, when Kel saved him yet again. He didn't need to say anything at first, which saved his reputation as a man of quick wits. Raoul had actually picked Kel up to twirl her around (and not many people would manage that one with Kel, let alone get a laugh out of her afterward). That only showed that she was indeed wearing a dress, and the skirts of it were rather swirly, and he was in deep trouble. When a brief glimpse of calves was enough to make his mind go skittering in rather inappropriate directions (let alone the fascinating area of skin above the neckline of the dress, or the details that drew attention to the bust and to the way her hips curved out from a very muscly waist), he was in very deep trouble. Alanna was next, though she settled for a rather normal hug and some quiet joke that had both of them laughing, and in deference to the occasion (and because he was still surprised all over again when he noticed just how pretty the woman was), Dom let Nealan step ahead to pull Kel into an embrace.

It lasted long enough that Dom might have been a little jealous, except that Neal was getting married and Dom had no reason to get jealous anyway, but finally Nealan was doing some kind of breathing exercise and out of the way.

Lalasa had found some shade of goldish brown that somehow made the hazel in Kel's eyes show all sorts of flecks of color. It was perhaps regrettable that all the honest compliments that came to mind seemed helplessly overblown, but he was only grateful that he maintained function around the woman.

"Kel, look at you classing up the place," he managed. Dom had waited his turn to hug her, and obviously deserved to pause long enough to pay attention to the way her hair smelled just a little bit like flowers and that there was a small lock just behind her ear that seemed to be thinking about curling. He did step away before it turned all that obvious, but that just let him see her smiling. "I feel like mud is about to rain from the skies to restore the status quo. Perhaps we should all head inside first?"

"That'd be you, boys," Alanna said, nudging Raoul forward. "My lord Wyldon is directing traffic, and he'll be sure to tell you when to start walking. Dom can stay to keep us company while we wait for Thayet and the brides."

Kel pulled Neal into another rough embrace. Dom couldn't hear all of what she whispered into Nealan's ear, but after catching 'proud' and 'so happy for both of you,' he decided that it had been rather private and not meant to be one of the thousands of things he knew about Keladry.

His favorite part of the entire wedding was right there at the start. He made all the polite exclamations about Yuki and Buri, of course, and he didn't need to feign any of the admiration. Buri was in a dress in some style he didn't recognize (she lit up when Kel asked if it was a K'mir style, and then she and Kel and Thayet were all talking about dresses and the practical nature of K'mir skirting for both horseback riding and combat—that was his Kel) and Yuki in an obviously Yamani-inspired dress that adapted the layered look, collar, bell-sleeves, and obi into something any Tortallan woman would want to wear. (Kel looked rather proud when Buri repeated some earlier compliment about the dress, and it wasn't as if she was actually his Kel but it seemed that his mind could be rather possessive when it came to her.) That was all okay, but then they broke themselves into lines. Alanna and Thayet would go in first, as Buri had wanted the least ceremony possible, and he would follow with Kel on his arm.

"You look rather dashing yourself," Kel murmured as Thayet walked down the aisle on Alanna's arm, both of them the very embodiment of dignity. (The illusion was ruined near the altar, when anybody that knew the pair of them could see the laughter that threatened to start at any given moment, but the queen and the king's champion had made a very solemn procession into the chapel.) "I don't think the mud would be much of a detriment, but it is nice to be clean for more than ten minutes at a time."

That was when he offered his arm, and she took it as if she were any court lady, and not the second lady knight in living memory. "I'll have to come visit New Hope soon," Dom said. "It's entirely too tidy on proper bases, and as soon as the formalities of the war are over I'll be able to do some honest work. I have never signed my name so often in my life."

"You get used to it." That reply was even quieter, as they were just a few steps from Wyldon and a few moments from the signal to begin walking. "I hardly recognize my name any longer, but the scribes all swear that it's better to have some kind of trademark scribble to put on everything."

He was looking in her eyes, then, and maybe that was why he didn't want to joke about the magic of clerks or the autographs she'd be signing for the rest of her life. "I'd be doing you a disservice if I wasn't plain. You look beautiful, Kel, and you're the only woman I know that fits at a wedding just as much as on a battlefield."

He didn't know why he'd been quite _that _plain, except that she had some previously undocumented Gift that made his mind go to putty when she was looking at him, but he felt trapped when her breath caught. Kel never hesitated about speaking her piece, and his paranoid state of mind skipped easily from the rational explanations (the dress fit even more closely than the armor, and all through her chest; she was surprised because they usually weren't so direct; she was taking a moment to think about where the conversation had gone) into feeling that he had said too much.

That time, Wyldon saved him from Kel. He cleared his throat and nodded to the aisle, where Alanna and Thayet were only a few strides from the two grooms. "Off you go, then. Mindelan, whatever you said to Queenscove—well done. Nearly everyone thought he would have fallen over by now, but I knew you'd have some time with him. Jesslaw owes me two crowns."

Keladry smiled, as if she wasn't stunning enough already. "He was a fool to bet against you, sir."

Wyldon actually _laughed. _Kel didn't seem surprised, and kept that same smile as they began walking.

When the pair of them walked down the aisle, with the eyes of every soldier in the fort on him, he rather belatedly realized that his men were liable to do something stupid. He wasted a few steps being apprehensive before he saw Wolset studying the pair of them with a very soft look in his eyes. The corporal straightened when he noticed Dom looking at him, but made no sign of a wolf-whistle or a shout of encouragement or anything embarrassing. Wolset only winked before turning back toward the front of the chapel.

He realized at the end of the aisle he'd have to give her up for the entirety of the wedding, but consoled himself with the idea of walking her out again. (Walking the girl of his dreams out of a chapel after a wedding had all kinds of agreeable connotations to it.) She hadn't lost her smile the entire time they were walking, and when she took her place over by Thayet, he could imagine she looked a little disappointed that there were a good ten paces between them.

That was when Buri made her grand entrance, and Yuki a minute behind her, and he was distracted even from Kel (well, distracted from Kel several times) by the spectacle of Raoul and Nealan getting married. Buri and Raoul were enough to make anybody think that it might not matter how long you waited, and Nealan and Yuki were making a two-person campaign for the utterly irritating levels of happiness that accompanied young love.

It was enough to make somebody hope. He snuck glances at Kel during all the boring parts (he had never found the vows all that terribly interesting, and only paid attention enough to note that both couples used the progressive version with nothing about obeying on either part), and was rather gratified to notice that she was doing the same. Kel was looking at him, and nothing in her expression suggested she was doing it from some kind of worry. Maybe he hadn't said a word to her past flirting, yet, but maybe that would change. They still had dinner and a ball before he had to let go of his duty as her designated escort for the evening,

That, of course, was a very optimistic view that discounted exactly how many people in Tortall made a livelihood out of being incredibly annoying.


	3. Chapter 3

_Dom, Kel, and all other mentioned characters belong to Tamora Pierce. The canon used also incorporates events mentioned only in interviews, such as what happened the time Miri from _Wild Magic _hunted spidrens with the Riders.  
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**Chapter Three**

Dinner was entirely too long. The rather flustered master of ceremonies was a military man, and he had created a seating arrangement more reminiscent of a formal awards ceremony than a wedding reception. The two bridal couples were allowed to sit together, but the groomsmen and bridesmaids were separated on either side. Kel didn't seem disappointed by the arrangement, but she had ended up between Queen Thayet and Daine Sarrasri. The three of them were cheerfully discussing ways to better incorporate Rider groups with Own companies. Tobe had talked his way into being his mistress's personal server, and when he brought out each course the conversation switched easily to horses. The master of ceremonies might not have approved of a servant chatting quietly with the guests, but he could hardly protest when the queen seemed very happy with the arrangement. Thayet was already boasting that Stefan was going to adore his successor.

Neal and Yuki were impossibly sweet. Neal's pre-wedding jitters had vanished into nothing the moment he and Yuki linked hands at the altar, and the two of them were having some quiet conversation that nobody interrupted. Buri and Raoul frequently paused to kiss (to the amusement of a rather raucous group of wedding guests—the soldiers present gave only passing attention to propriety), but they included both Alanna and Dom in their talks about whatever came to mind.

No dinner spent teasing Sir Raoul was entirely wasted, but it would have been much better if he could have caught a glimpse of Kel. There were six people between them at the long table, and one of them was Raoul. Dom scarcely paid attention to dessert knowing what would follow, and he wasn't disappointed. The soldiers present briskly cleared the floor of the mess hall, leaving a wide space for dancing.

Neal and Yuki barely put up a token protest at being the first couple out on the floor. Several men had been drafted into forming a very tiny orchestra, along with a few workers from the kitchens, and the resulting ensemble was surprisingly polished as they played an old folk song. The choice of music was a little rustic, perhaps, but no one minded as they watched Neal and Yuki slowly turning on the floor. The band had a sense of mischief, too, ending the stately piece with a brisk jig that left Neal breathless and Yuki laughing. Buri and Raoul joined them for the next song, and from there...

Dom made a playful bow to Kel when the time had finally come. "Shall we dance, lady knight?"

Kel made an exaggerated curtsy in return. "I believe we shall, sergeant."

She didn't look at all nervous, and for once his long experience in balls was a distinct benefit. His arms knew just where to go, even if Kel was quite a bit taller than his usual partners, and his hands knew better than to slip toward scandalous areas (in public). The first few turns were as easy as breathing, but then he realized that he would be spending entirely too much time looking directly into Kel's eyes. All of his resolve to tell her was quickly vanishing. He would see her for the rest of the night, and again the next morning, and he didn't want to ruin Neal's wedding night. Even if Kel was gentle in turning him down, he'd need somebody to talk with for a few hours. Dom would never forgive himself for ruining Neal's wedding night, and he wouldn't take Raoul's from him. He could tell her the next day, or the next week, or...

Luckily, Kel had been content to focus on the trickier steps of the dance, so he hadn't been leaving an awkward silence as he thought. He was struggling to think of something to say when a short redhead expertly cut in to steal his dancing partner.

Before he could protest that Alanna had her own date, Thayet had taken Kel's place in his arms. He tried to conceal his disappointment, but Thayet's smile was kind while she read him like a book.

"You were floundering, sergeant," the queen murmured. "Alanna thought she'd do a bit of setting the stage for you, and it's been long enough that she rather likes playing the man's part at a dance. She cut a wide swath through Corus as a squire, you know—so cute, so utterly unavailable."

Dom quickly gathered his composure. It was very easy with a beautiful woman in his arms, even if he thought the queen wasn't quite so attractive as Keladry. "That saves me from having to duel her later, at least. I'd planned to stick to my strengths and challenge her to wrestling, hang the people that know it's because I'd never win with a sword."

Thayet chuckled. "You are a very clever man, Domitan of Masbolle. Just don't be so clever that you stab yourself in the foot. Forgive me if it's meant to be a secret, but you care about the lady knight as a bit more than a friend. Tonight is the perfect night to make that clear, as you might have guessed."

The queen looked far too aware, but playing it clueless was still the safest option. "What do you mean?" he asked.

"Everybody feels a little more romantic at weddings like these, and you will be able to steal Kel back for the last dance at the very least. I would leave it for the end of the night for full effect, but it might not be a choice." Thayet stepped back as the song ended. Her curtsy was little more than a rustling of skirts, as was proper, just as it was proper for him to bow deeply to the queen. "I believe you'll run the gauntlet of her admirers first."

That sounded faintly ominous, but Thayet had snatched up a stray knight before Dom could ask just what the queen had meant. Alanna sidled up to take her place. "No hard feelings, Masbolle?"

"Her majesty explained your motives," Dom said. Kel was dancing with Buri, and the pair of them were laughing as they tried to negotatiate which partner would lead. "I think I would have ended up making vowel sounds after another few minutes."

"Well, then, let's get you some practice. I've always felt that consonants were very useful things." Alanna let him lead, perhaps to leave her free to scrutinize him. "You know, sometimes the answer doesn't come right away. George waited even when I didn't realize he was the best man for me."

"I hardly think that I'm the best of all options," Dom corrected. "I'm sure that she could do eight times better."

Alanna cocked an eyebrow. "Not ten?"

Dom smiled as he added a flourish to the dance.. "I'm not that much of a disappointment except to Great-Aunt Muirne."

Alanna laughed, loudly enough that they drew attention from the nearest pairs of dancers. "Oh, you are good," she approved. "I think one of the women of the day wants you next, or I'd let you charm me a while longer."

Before Dom could ask if every woman in the place meant to spin him around for a time, Yuki had caught his hand. She was a beautiful woman without any help, but her cheeks were flushed from the dancing and the excitement of the day, her wedding gown suited her beautifully, and her hair was pulled into a flattering style arranged with a pair of decorated hair-sticks.

"I'm surprised that you could be pried away from your new husband, cousin," he said to his newest relative. Alanna had already moved on to dance with Buri, leaving him an empty stretch of floor.

Yuki's eyes widened. "Oh! I'd forgotten that, somehow." She wasn't tall enough to reach up to his shoulder, so they settled for joining arms. "Well, cousin, Shinko and Prince Roald told me that I should wish you luck, once they heard who Neal and I had chosen for the wedding. We nearly had to fight Lord Raoul for Kel, since she was the one that fixed him up with Buri, but Kel got credit for introducing me to Nealan, too."

He would have to ask for the full story later, Dom had already gone back to the important part. "Wait a moment. The _prince _and his new bride are..."

"Wishing you luck," Yuki supplied, mischief very clear in her expression. She might have started her time in Tortall a proper Yamani lady, perhaps, but she had been quite a bit more relaxed since the royal wedding. "For a while, we thought it might be Cleon, but—don't make that face. She stopped being interested in Cleon while she was still a squire, and he's safely married off anyway."

"I—Yuki, this is—"

"I thought that Tortallans enjoyed being strangely blunt." Yuki's expression had calmed itself, but her eyes were dancing. "Her Majesty and Alanna and Lord Raoul gossip like Yamani matchmakers. I know that it can be hard for you to understand what Kel is feeling. She spent nearly all of her childhood in the Yamani Islands, where showing emotions is both rude and weak. If you want to know what one of the Yamani is feeling, the eyes are usually the best clue, but..." Yuki leaned close, her voice dipping to a whisper. "With Kel, it's her mouth. Her hands will stay perfectly still, her eyes might seem like all is normal, and everything else about her might seem serene, but you can always tell by the little tells in her lips."

Dom had gathered that Alanna and Queen Thayet had wanted him to succeed, for whatever reasons they had used to justify meddling, but Yuki and Kel had been friends for years. Dom knew that Yuki wouldn't release Kel's secrets lightly.

Before he could think of a suitable response, Yuki had stepped away, slipping into Nealan's arms. Dom wasn't at all surprised when he heard another woman's voice, but her identity was surprising.

"Sergeant Domitan," Veralidaine Sarrasri greeted, smiling warmly at him. They'd met in passing several times, but they'd never said much to each other. "Might I borrow you for a bit? I seem to be missing a dancing partner, since Numair and Wyldon quite suddenly discovered that they both find some particulars of dog breeding fascinating."

"I didn't know that Master Salmalin bred any animals."

"Numair's interested in the academic ends of it. A few of the professors at the university have started to realize that animal breeders are ages ahead in knowing what sort of young to expect in a litter, knowing their parents, and for once the silly clunches are talking to someone what knows better." Daine's mode of speech was markedly casual, usually a sign that she was around people that she liked. Dom had no idea when he had made that list, but he could guess the cause. Daine was known to be fond of Kel, for all the things Keladry did for animals. Everyone in Tortall seemed to know how he felt about Kel, and he wouldn't be at all surprised if the animals had gone tattling to the Wildmage, if Alanna hadn't.

Dom realized that the invitation had gone unanswered a bit too long. "Of course, milady," he said with a courtly bow. "I may ask your protection should Master Salmalin reclaim your hand, however. I have no desire to be a cabbage."

Daine chuckled. "Folk always seem to think that, but he knows I get fair irritated when he goes turning people into plants. A tree, the only time I saw him do it. It doesn't matter if the man did deserve it, it's rude to use spells like that when Numair can't tell a maple from an oak."

Dom looked to the side of the hall, regarding Master Salmalin with even more respect. "That's right, I'd heard a few rumors about Fief Dunlath and the apple tree that nobody touches. I'd prefer to disbelieve all of that, to be honest, but I know too many grand people to let it all wash past me."

Daine smiled politely, but she had the look of somebody that wouldn't be swayed from her purpose. "I realize that it's none of my business who you court or who Kel decides to step out with, but Peachblossom wanted me to pass on a message and I've not been in the same area as you for a month now. He's been too embarrassed to say it personal-like, but he's decided that you'll be an alright stallion for Keladry." Daine repeated the words gravely, for all that her eyes were even more lit than Yuki's had been. "That's high praise from a horse, you know, and 'specially when it's coming from a gelding."

Dom shook his head, even as some small part of him was quite proud to earn the finicky horse's approval. That was the kind of thing that would matter to Kel. "I think the strangest part is that it isn't even all that strange. You have met Tobe by now, I'd think?"

"The first time I stopped in at Haven," Daine agreed. "When I heard where Kel had found him... it's for the best I don't know that town. Tobe is staying with Kel for a while yet, until he's sure that she can look after herself, but I think we've finally found somebody to take after Stefan back in Corus. Tobe loves the big warhorses, and Stefan's getting fair tired of ladders recently."

"Tobe's a brave little kid. All of the little New Hope ones are, really, but he was amazing in Scanra."

"You're quite amazing yourself," Daine said quietly. "It's fair hard for most menfolk to stay close with a woman what can look out for herself. Numair's an odd duck, as he studied my magic ages before he met me, and we have different lines of working. You and Kel are both leaders, both fighters... both good at strays. I've heard tell that you were one of her first supporters, and that kind of thing goes a fair bit farther than most folk imagine."

It was very hard to make Domitan blush, but Daine did it easily. Her eyes were blue-grey, not at all like Kel's hazel, but they had that same dreamy way of looking right into the heart of things. Just like with Kel, when flirting wasn't the appropriate response, he found himself at a loss. "Well, I..."

"I'm sorry," Daine said, quite sincerely. "I didn't mean to make you uncomfortable, I just thought you could use a little extra encouragement is all. Kel's always going to be one for taking in strays, and she can trust you to look after them just as well as she does." Her blue eyes were nearly as nice as Kel's, or at least they had been. The glare of the bright lights made them shine unnaturally gold. "Keladry of Mindelan will always be the Protector of the Small. Any man that will last with her must embrace that part of her, not only tolerate it."

There was an uncomfortable ringing formality in the woman's words. No matter what experiences he had been through, and what grand people he had worked through, none were so unnerving as the sharp glint that passed through Daine's eyes, something no amount of torches and lanterns could explain. He never would be able to explain it properly, but it was almost as if he'd seen more than a pretty brown-haired woman in a simple dress that couldn't look straight in his eyes if she stood on her tiptoes. There was something _bigger _about Veralidaine Sarrasri, something that could transcend even King Jonathan's effortless majesty.

When he blinked the effects of it away, he was sitting at the edge of the improvised dancing floor, and Daine was holding one of his hands in both of hers, chafing it gently..

"I'm very, very sorry," Daine said, plainly mortified. "That hardly ever happens, and the explanation might be even worse than the thing itself. I take after my da a bit too much sometimes, for the short of it."

Dom rubbed at the back of his neck, still feeling spooked. He'd worked with mages, but even Numair Salmalin working his most extensive magics hadn't felt quite like that. "Goddess," he croaked. Daine's eyes widened strangely at that, but she seemed to settle as Dom continued. Maybe she'd just expected him to swear by Mithros, like most soldiers did. "That packed a wallop, whatever it was. Maybe I can ask you another time, if I've a mind to end the curiosity?"

If he wasn't mistaken, Daine looked relieved. "Of course," she said. "I don't talk about it often, with the way it makes folk uncomfortable, but... call it a sign, maybe. My magic's stranger'n the Gift in nearly all ways, and that's just a small part of it. That kind of thing happens when it's a truth that can't be turned around, if you believe what Numair's settled on for an explanation."

"If he's settled on an explanation, then it's quite good enough for me." Dom felt his composure starting to slink back into place. Wolset had started to make his way over, plainly to be sure that his sergeant wasn't lost in the head, but Daine handled that with the social grace he might expect of a duchess born to the title. She offered one last curtsy to Dom, probably some continuation or other of her apology, and had poor Wolset on the dance floor for a rather brisk dance before the corporal could make a single word of protest.

When nobody immediately jumped from the shadows to take her place, Domitan staggered over to the open bar provided by the goodness of Neal and Buri's hearts. The punch might be more alcohol than juice, but it remained luridly pink, and that was not the kind of drink that this situation required.

There was nobody pouring out drinks, but the glasses and bottles were in easy reach to pour out a few swallows of a quite impressive whiskey. Somehow, he'd gone through the entire fuss of flipping up a glass, opening the bottle, pouring the alcohol, closing the bottle, and downing the glass's contents before he realized that he wasn't the only person in the rather secluded corner of the dining hall.

His companion was rather tall, especially for one wearing Rider insignia. The blond man's name escaped Dom entirely, but the badge on his shoulder was more than clear. Thegolden circle around the rearing horse was the commander's sign, and this was the man that answered directly to Queen Thayet.

"Congratulations on the promotion, Commander," Dom said. Something about the ambiance of their little corner kept his voice quiet, and kept his tone friendly instead of enthusiastic.

"Thank you, sergeant." Evin set his bottle aside. There were just an inch of fluid in the bottom, but with the label gone Dom didn't know what the man had been drinking. "Well, we're both here. I don't suppose you'd tell a curious man why you're in need of some courage?"

Dom recognized that look, a little. Evin might not care directly, but he'd rather think about everything but his own problems. "I had thought about getting a little courage for later, perhaps, but I'd mostly talked myself out of needing a drink for that. I was pretty unsettled a couple minutes ago, that's all, and just the taste is enough to bring me back to familiar ground."

Evin nodded to the dance floor. "Daine, right?"

Dom flushed, remembering a rumor that Evin had been one of Daine's first friends in Tortall. "It's not... I suppose it sounds pretty bad. She said something that really surprised me, that was all."

To his surprise, Evin chuckled. "No worries, Masbolle. I've heard Daine in a pet when she was taking the Own's horsemasters to task, and she had you as a shining example. Seems you're good to the beasts, and have been since you were a rookie, and make your squad to the same."

Somehow, that only made Dom flush deeper. "Yeah, well..."

"So when you say that she unsettled you, or at least admit it when I'm crude enough to put aside your extremely polite phrasing... I understand. It's her kind of magic, and she has more than anyone that you will ever meet. It leaks out into everything that she does, sometimes." Evin's words were kind, but he was looking far past Dom, as if the wall was unfolding into some much superior view. "She can take people into it, if she knows them well enough and they have the right kind of discipline. Daine took Miri out in the waves, once, and you never saw two women laughing so hard. Turns out that dolphins are comedians."

Dom wasn't sure just what protocol called for, but his gut had served him better. He grasped the other man's forearm, not too hard and not too easy. "I'm sorry."

"That obvious?" Evin smiled wearily. "I'm not always this maudlin, you know. It's just the wedding causing all this. Buri usually doesn't hold with drinking in her Riders, and I'd be a hypocrite if I was at the cups and telling 'em all to hold off, but she told me to have the night and let Thayet do the decisions for a time. Miri was the one that said from the start that she thought that Buri and Raoul were pretty friendly."

Dom glanced out at the dance floor, where Kel and Thayet were whirling around the floor, and noticed a small crowd that could be waiting their turn for the hand of either woman. "I have time, Evin—if you don't mind. This is the kind of talk that seems to call for first names."

A spark came to Evin's pale eyes, then, and it was like the entire corner brightened with the force of the man's personality. "Well... I lost her, in the end, but you've guessed as much. Spidren attack, Miri saved way too many lives for me to wish she hadn't done it—just because she'd come back and kick my tail if I wished so many people dead to get her back. I never told her, but... well, I don't quite want to know quite what happened, but reliable word has it that she knew before she died. From the horse's mouth, you might say."

The small hairs on the back of Dom's neck rose. He was used to grand things, perhaps, but this was was up there with that look in Daine's eyes that hadn't looked even human. Something in Evin's voice made the words sound all too literal. "Word from after she died?" he asked gently.

"From the Black God's realm," Evin confirmed, still looking dazed. "It's not normally done, but I suppose I have a couple friends in scarily high places that called in a favor or two, and... it helped a lot, so maybe that's why they did it. Just to know that she was as nervous and hurt-shy as I was, and thinking of asking _me _all that time we were dancing around each other."

There was a lesson in there, about not waiting too long, but Kel was dancing with Owen and there was at least another hour of music left in their thrown-together band. Dom managed to flag down one of the servants carrying cups of fruit juice, and Evin accepted one readily enough.

"I'd like to hear about her," Dom said, and it was like a dam had broken. Evin talked to him for three quarters of an hour before rather abruptly yawning, after keeping up a constant monologue of daring escapes and pranks and jokes and sweet moments that had been enough at the time, and before Dom could do a thing two tall young Riders had hustled over to throw Evin's arms over their shoulders. Evin complied rather sleepily, waving goodnight to Dom, and the trainees seemed to be trying to say something with their eyes before they helped Evin away, presumably to sleep off whatever quantity of alcohol he'd managed before Dom came along.

Dom was tidying the two open bottles at the bar when he saw a shadow edging on his peripheral vision, and whipped around to find Buri behind him. The retired Rider Commander chuckled.

"Excellent reflexes, Masbolle, but I should have expected such things from one of Raoul's best men," she said. "Look, what you did tonight... none of us have even thought to try it that way, the rare times that he'll drag himself to somebody's wedding. Usually he spends the night miserable, and the next day hung over the privy."

"It wasn't any hardship, Commander—er—milady—ma'am?"

That time, she outright laughed. "Buri, please. Riders dislike titles, we're allergic to them. We do like gossip, though, and you can bet that every Rider will get the sense that we owe you one. Even if it's not entirely by the book, if you get my meaning. We like Evin, and we like seeing him smiling."

Dom couldn't begin to figure out what to say, because a sudden lapse to 'congratulations' seemed odd, but Buri clapped him on the arm. "Now. Your lady's getting a mite tired of dancing, and nobody's let her so much as sit down all night. I'd bet she's parched dry, and the fruit juice has all been around this corner."

Dom glanced out at the floor, then at Buri. She waved him on, and he needed no further encouragement. Now, all he needed to do was find some lovely servant that was carrying around cider, and he'd have a guaranteed way to start a conversation. With that obstacle out of the way, continuing it would be rather easy, and this was no time to worry about finishing it.

He found cider easily enough, but perhaps he should have paid more attention to the familiar person carrying it. He'd had more than enough advice and approval from people other than Kel... but one more wouldn't hurt. Tobe was a good kid, and if he disapproved then Dom would be hearing it from the horses later. It'd be much more polite to speak to the kid now, however much it felt like he was asking Keladry's father for permission. (That would be easier, actually. Her mother was the formidable one, and probably would be even _more _formidable if he went asking them about marriage before he'd gotten a positive answer from Kel.)


	4. Chapter 4

_I don't plan any further chapters for this story. I might reference events within it for some later story, but this is the end for this story. _

**The Courtship of Domitan of Masbolle: Chapter Four  
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Tobeis Boon didn't look angry, but from what Dom knew it could be rather hard to tell. Dom decided to work under the guess that Tobe wasn't upset, but that the kid did know exactly what was about to happen. It was much safer to guess that children knew exactly what was going on around them. That went double when it was his men telling dirty jokes thinking that kids wouldn't know the punchlines.

"Good evening, Tobe. I didn't get the chance to say hello earlier, but you're definitely three inches taller than you were in Scanra."

When in doubt, compliment, and if there was one thing truer than young boys (and some lucky girls) growing like weeds, it was that all young boys were extremely pleased about that new height. Precisely on schedule, Tobe blushed slightly, looking quite flattered. "Thank you, sir—um, Sergeant."

"It doesn't matter much to me, Tobe. My own men come up with a new name for me every week, and all of us agreed that you're honorary Own. If you'd rather stick with 'sergeant' for a while until 'Dom' is easier, don't worry about it." Tobe's burden hadn't looked so bulky while he was approaching, but a few of his men wouldn't be able to hold a full tray of drinks steady for a full minute. That was mostly due to impatience, rather than lack of strength, but it was still impressive to know a kid had no problem with the task. "Here, that tray looks pretty heavy. Do you want to set it down for a minute?"

"No thanks, sergeant."

Dom hadn't expected anything else, but it seemed polite to offer. "Here, I'll lighten it a bit." He drained one glass of cider, rather surprised at how thirsty he was himself, and reconsidered his earlier plan. He set the empty glass on the tray and took two full ones in exchange. "I'm going to get one out to Kel in a minute. Unless you'd rather," he said, remembering how little Tobe liked it when other people encroached on duties the boy had claimed.

Tobe smiled slyly. Sometimes, that boy was far older than ten. "I think she'd like it better if you took it out, sergeant."

That was more than enough sign of approval for Dom. "Thank you kindly, Tobe, I'd like the excuse to get her attention."

Tobe hesitated, shifting the tray to one arm. "Um, sergeant?"

"Yes?"

Tobe's smile was very shy, but the expression was undeniably friendly. "Good luck."

More than anything, that little exchange made Dom sure that he had a chance. Tobe vanished before there was any chance to reply, but the encouragement carried him across the dance floor guarding the two glasses of cider, and sheer accident in timing let him come up to Kel just as Wolset was stepping away. (Wolset, being an accommodating fellow, even slipped away without another word to leave them even more space.)

"Spot of cider, lady knight?" he offered. "You've been very popular tonight."

"Thank you," she said with feeling, draining the entire glass rapidly. (There was something very wrong with a man when he fell in love with somebody's neck, but he could have watched the way that her muscles moved for an hour without getting bored.) Dom held out the second, and wasn't at all surprised when it vanished just as quickly. The servants had been paying attention, of course, because someone made the emptied cups vanish before Dom could even think of what they would do to get them off of the dance floor. Kel had the presence of mind to thank the quickly-disappearing servant before catching one of Dom's hands. "I believe we were interrupted earlier, and you still owe me a dance." She knew that he wasn't fool enough to refuse such an easy request.

Dancing was easy when the number was too fast for anyone to think of talking, and he had the advantage of several breaks throughout the night. Her previous partners had run her ragged, because even Kel's stamina was starting to flag after two full hours of dancing. Luckily, one of the many people with an all-too-obvious interest in watching them dance together had noticed. Dom could have sworn that he saw Alanna signaling to the band just before the first few bars of a quicker song turned into a stately dance meant to be done very slowly.

"I feel like I've hardly seen you today," Keladry said, easily finding the new tempo of the song. "Is Raoul making you work tomorrow?"

"He's taken pity on my squad's wearied souls. We've had politicians harassing us for the past four days," he explained. "We've had to give another full accounting of the Scanran expedition, this time with the proper bureaucrats already in place. You'll get a visit from them in the next month or so."

Keladry pulled a face. "They're just waiting for us to come up with a better way to say that we displaced Blayce. Doing it with a handful of knights, a squad of the Own, and a small bunch of peasants... they wanted something a little more impressive."

"I thought it was very impressive, and they're still allergic to admitting that a soldier with a pole arm can take down a slow mage," he countered. "We had two mages involved for my squad's inquisition, and neither liked the idea that you used a glaive without the slightest bit of magic attached to it. It'd make their days happy if you said that Master Salmalin witched it for you."

"I'll tell them Numair saved my bacon with explaining about focuses and call it even. We can get our stories straight tomorrow, if you like. I was planning on an early ride."

"I would like that," Dom said. It was true, but not necessarily descriptive. He would have liked anything that meant spending time with Kel. "You're disgustingly cheerful in the mornings, and I'd hate to see you stabbed for such a mild character flaw. No one suffering from a hangover should have to remember that happiness exists."

Keladry laughed, and thwapped him on the shoulder for the slight. "We'll avoid the drunks, anyway. More accurately, you can ignore all your men whining at you."

"As wise as you are beautiful," he dared, letting the teasing carry the true words, but something caught. She was looking at him, and nothing seemed odd about that, but her lips had pulled a touch up and to the right. While he was still puzzling out what that could mean, if Yuki were right and Kel revealed everything through obscure motions of her lips, Kel had leaned forward and kissed him.

Dom's body seemed to react independently of his mind. While he was still processing that this was really happening, and not some lovely hallucination, his arms had curled around her back and his neck and discovered the optimal tilt for his head, and by the time he realized that he was actually kissing Lady Knight Keladry of Mindelan, he was in good company. His eyes had closed at some point, but even without opening them he knew they were the focus of nearly everybody in the room.

After what could only have been a second, somebody (probably Raoul, Alanna, Nealan, Wolset, or Buri) wolf-whistled, the room at large chuckled, and the musicians resumed playing.

They did separate after a minute or an hour, one of those, and it would be the optimal time for a teasing one-liner. There was no one else to hear, the setup had been fantastic, the cue was right there...

"Very nice," Keladry said. The words were deadpan, but he could see the tiny twitches of her mouth that meant she was one joke away from smiling. "I don't expect the room to come to a complete standstill every time, but..."

"But we can always experiment?" Dom proposed hopefully.

Kel did smile, the tiniest turn of the lips that left him a very happy man. "My instructors were always very firm in saying that you cannot believe a phenomenon is true after only one example. Think how much we would disappoint Sir Myles,"she said gravely.

"As much as I hate to disappoint Sir Myles, perhaps we can do our country proud without half of it looking on? The fort offers the lovely romantic vantage points of the kitchen vegetable garden, the composting grounds, and the wall." Dom consoled himself with thinking that it would be even worse at New Hope, when all of those sites would be filled with people that still weren't entirely sure that their Lady Kel should settle for a sergeant.

"The wall, I think. We can be safe from Queen Thayet whistling at us like disobedient Rider trainees."

"That was the queen? I thought it was milord." Really, Dom shouldn't have been surprised. Sure enough, when he saw her again, Queen Thayet did look rather pleased with herself. "I am glad that your friends seem to approve of me. You have quite a few of them."

"There's only ten people in your squad, and even Captain Whiteford doesn't mind me too much lately. I think he's happy that I gave the Own enough credit for Blayce that the nobles are about to start a permanent training facility for new recruits." Kel was understating her own appeal again, of course. Flyndan had come around on Kel so much that he was starting to ask the queen and Lady Ilane for lessons on glaives to show his young men not to make silly assumptions.

"My squad and I would have been there anyway, but it was nice of milord to give orders in line with what we wanted to do. Much like today, actually. Lord Raoul spent the last three weeks creating reasons that my squad couldn't be pulled away." Dom might have bucked orders to make it back for the wedding anyway, of course, but he would have a ridiculous number of witnesses saying he'd abandoned his post to flirt with Kel, something she wouldn't have approved.

"We seem to have quite a few fans already. I saw most of the room giving you the third-degree, and Daine was about to fly straight to Corus to yell at a door. The Chamber of the Ordeal and I are- um- friends, I suppose," Kel admitted, looking just as puzzled about the phrasing as he felt. "It overshadowed Irnai, once, and I guess that it could do the same with Daine. She has the right kind of magic for it to use as a channel."

"Is _that _what... I thought I was going a bit mad, for a second, but Daine seemed to think I had the right reaction." Perhaps Dom wouldn't need some sort of elaborate apology flower-arrangement after all. He could stick with the spoken version and have no chance of drawing the irritation of Numair Salmalin (who also had a soft spot for Kel, from what he'd seen). "So far, I think I've had the approval of all and sundry. My mother's already quite charmed from the letters that Nealan would write, my father's rather agreeable, and Meathead has already made several threats regarding his rights as your original best friend."

"My dad's just as nice," Kel said solemnly, with that little twitch of her lips that meant trouble. "A couple of my brothers are going to wait to see what you're like, and most of my sisters and I actually get along now."

"The catch is the inimitable Lady Ilane, I'd guess?"

Kel smiled, shaking her head. "Not for long, I think, especially if you approach her like that. She'll like you. I already said that you've been on my side all along. I think you've already appeased the horde of people that seem to think they have a say. Peachblossom, Tobe, Lalasa, and Raoul like you, and the rest of them could have gone to jump in a lake if they didn't agree."

Somehow, he had impressed a gelding, a horse-whisperer, a dressmaker, his commanding officer, and the most fascinating woman in the country. Clearly he was doing something right. "So, when we were talking about experimentation to verify a phenomenon..."

That time, he caught separate wolf-whistles from the queen, the King's Champion, the commander of the King's Own, the commander emeritus of the Queen's Riders, and his newly wed cousins. Clearly Meathead was a terrible influence, but Yuki looked quite happy, so perhaps it was for the best. He hadn't caught the source of the loudest whistle, but Kel was shaking her head as she looked behind him. "Who was that? Wolset?" Dom asked, wondering if his corporal had finally learned how to whistle without that hiss at the end of it.

"Lord Wyldon."

Dom chuckled, somehow unsurprised that the stiff training master emeritus had joined the rest of the civilized folk in taking Keladry's side. They managed to escape the ball without further difficulty, and even snuck around the first wall guard during a change in shift. There was an empty munitions storage alcove with an excellent view, and Kel had already muttered promises about what would happen to the next person to interrupt. He'd always loved it when the lady took initiative.

Life certainly wouldn't be boring, with all of her friends around for color commentary and unexpected wolf-whistling, but he never had been one for boredom. Maybe that was why he'd been smart enough to take the fool's bet, when the tall page had been struggling with a bad-tempered gelding all those years ago. It always paid to bet on Kel.


End file.
